Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Uganda and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1965 to 1974.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Jakarta and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tehran kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1962 at the first Guess Who practice in a loft in Winnipeg.
I was working on the harpsichord sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Darondo to the disco kids.
I played it at Trash.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Parry Music. All the underground hits.
All Amon Düül tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Tropical Tobacco record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a linndrum and a sitar and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Whodini record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Derrick May,
Don Cherry,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Wings,
Fatback Band,
The Real Kids,
The Dirtbombs,
Public Enemy,
Tropical Tobacco,
Dual Sessions,
Goldenarms,
Pagans,
The Buckinghams,
PIL,
Monks,
Johnny Osbourne,
Derrick Morgan,
the Swans,
Lebanon Hanover,
The Count Five,
Liliput,
Sight & Sound,
The Blackbyrds,
Peter & Gordon,
Quando Quango,
Wally Richardson,
UT,
Anthony Braxton,
U.S. Maple,
Grauzone,
Robert Wyatt,
The Toasters,
Pere Ubu,
The Dave Clark Five,
Rites of Spring,
Tommy Roe,
Fugazi,
Dennis Brown,
Bobby Womack,
The Kinks,
Can,
Eurythmics,
Gang Starr,
Inner City,
Yaz,
Joyce Sims,
Josef K,
Jeff Lynne,
Curtis Mayfield,
Subhumans,
Cluster,
Sam Rivers,
Niagra,
Patti Smith,
Yellowson,
Soul II Soul,
Average White Band,
Pantytec,
Fad Gadget,
Sun Ra,
The Sound,
Moby Grape,
Scrapy,
Das Ding,
Darondo, Darondo, Darondo, Darondo.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.